Halo is a franchise of first-person shooter video games created by Bungie Studios beginning in 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox game console. Since then, the series has grown to include sequel and spin-off games and a multimedia expanded universe, becoming one of the largest IPs for Xbox Game Studios and an icon in gaming as a whole. In 2011, Bungie stepped away from Halo and passed the torch onto 343 Industries, which has managed the franchise ever since before its rebrand to Halo Studios in late 2024.
The series is set in the far future and focuses on the character of the Master Chief, a cybernetically-enhanced supersoldier fighting to defend humanity from a variety of alien threats, and Cortana - a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence construct that resides within his armor.
